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Layer-specific spatiotemporal dynamics of feedforward and feedback in human visual object perception.

Tony Carricarte^1,2,3, Siying Xie¹, Johannes Singer¹

¹Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, 14195 Berlin, Germany.

Biorxiv : the Preprint Server for Biology

|June 4, 2025

Summary

Researchers mapped visual object perception using layer-specific fMRI and EEG. They identified distinct feedforward and feedback signals in the early visual cortex (EVC) and lateral occipital complex (LOC), revealing their roles in processing visual complexity.

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Area of Science:

Neuroscience
Cognitive Science
Computational Neuroscience

Background:

Visual object perception relies on information flow within the ventral visual stream via feedforward and feedback connections.
Distinguishing these rapid, overlapping signals in naturalistic vision is challenging.

Purpose of the Study:

To spatially and temporally segregate feedforward and feedback information signals during object perception.
To elucidate the functional role of these signals in processing visual complexity.

Main Methods:

Layer-specific functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in early visual cortex (EVC) and lateral occipital complex (LOC) using naturalistic object images.
Combined fMRI with electroencephalography (EEG) to differentiate signals in time and space.
Compared identified neural dynamics in LOC with a deep neural network (DNN).

Main Results:

Feedforward signals originate in the middle layers of EVC and LOC.
Feedback signals appear in superficial layers of EVC and LOC, and deep layers of EVC.
Early feedforward signals in LOC encode medium complexity features; later feedback signals enhance to high complexity features.

Conclusions:

This study specifies the spatiotemporal dynamics of feedforward and feedback information flow.
It clarifies the functional roles of these pathways in mediating visual object perception and complexity encoding.